Cash rewards offered to save sea turtles

[webfact]

Cash rewards offered to save sea turtles

By PRATCH RUJIVANAROM 
THE NATION 

 

 

NATIONAL PARKS on the Andaman coast are offering cash rewards to those who discover sea turtle nests and notify park officers in an attempt to protect the endangered species from extinction.

 

Marine National Park Operation Centre 2 at Phuket announced earlier this week it would offer a cash reward of up to Bt20,000 to anyone who finds new turtle nests on the beaches of Phuket and Phang Nga in order to ensure that the turtle eggs will not be smuggled and sold in the black market and to ensure that the rare, newborn sea turtles will have a higher survival rate.

 

 

Sea turtles’ nesting season on the Andaman coast off southern Thailand is between November and March every year. The national park authority has been encouraging people to help the park officers conserve sea turtles by finding turtle nests. People who find leatherback turtle’s nest will be granted a Bt20,000 reward, while the prize for finding the nest of other marine turtle species is Bt10,000.

 

Marine National Park Operation Centre 2 also pointed out that those who discover the turtle nests must inform the park officers to safely retrieve the turtle eggs immediately and they must not retrieve the turtle eggs themselves, because not only is it against the law but also improper transportation of turtle eggs may hamper its hatching.

 

Phang Nga’s Khao Lampi-Hat Thai Mueang National Park chief Mongkol Lieuwiriyakul said the sea turtle conservation measure to reward people who help the park officers identify and safely retrieve turtle eggs is not new. The park has followed this policy for many years, but this nesting season is the first time that the campaign has been widely publicised and such a high reward offered.

 

Mongkol said the retrieved eggs will be relocated to a safe location and when the eggs are hatched, the park officers will look after the hatchlings until they are strong enough before returning them to the sea in order to increase their survival rate.

 

“Due to the lack of an advertising campaign, we did not get much collaboration from the public. Giving the people who find the turtle nests just a few thousand baht is not compelling enough, because they can sell turtle eggs in the black market at a far higher price,” he said.

 

It was also revealed that the price of turtle eggs in the black market was as high as Bt300 per egg.

 

“This is why this year we decided to increase the financial reward and widely advertised the campaign both in local and social media,” Mongkol added.

 

People in the coastal areas of Southeast Asia have a long tradition of hunting sea turtles for meat and consuming turtle eggs, as in the past the turtle population was abundant and turtle eggs could be commonly found.

 

However, this tradition has led to a large drop in the sea-turtle population and critically endangered the survival of many turtle species, especially the leatherback turtle. Authorities have registered all species of sea turtles in Thailand as conserved animals and the poaching or collecting of turtle eggs are now illegal. Even though sea turtles are conserved by law in Thailand, their number has reduced even further. 

 

The Marine National Park Operation Centre 2 disclosed that this year alone, more than 25 sea turtles were found dead on the northern Andaman coast, due to the problems of plastic pollution in the sea, illegal fishing and turtle eggs smuggling.

 

Mongkol informed that the long and quiet beaches from Thai Mueang Beach in Phang Nga to Mai Khao Beach in Phuket are among the most prominent nesting grounds for sea turtles in Thailand, so many turtle nests could easily be found at these beaches in the past. 

 

But as the number of sea turtles continues to drop, even in the major nesting grounds inside Khao Lampi-Hat Thai Mueang National Park, the turtle nests have become rare. The leatherback turtle’s nest has not been sighted in this park for four years, he said.

 

He added that with more progressive measures on advertising the campaign, he hoped more people would help the park officers in monitoring the new turtle nests and enhance the efficiency of sea-turtle conservation.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30357857

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-11-05

[canopy]

Protection is needed, but digging up all the eggs and growing them in factories and dumping them in the ocean is despicable. It ruins allowing the eggs to hatch naturally, the turtle being able to imprint on the sands it was laid, and removes natural selection where the best hatchlings find their way to open seas and survive as it has been for ages. The turtles deserve better Give them undisturbed, protected habitat, not factory farming.

 

[Skeptic7]

11 hours ago, canopy said:

Protection is needed, but digging up all the eggs and growing them in factories and dumping them in the ocean is despicable. It ruins allowing the eggs to hatch naturally, the turtle being able to imprint on the sands it was laid, and removes natural selection where the best hatchlings find their way to open seas and survive as it has been for ages. The turtles deserve better Give them undisturbed, protected habitat, not factory farming.

 

While your passion is appreciated and you are correct that protection of natural nesting grounds is best, drastic measures must now be taken and the recovery methods used must be very specific. That said, your claims are not exactly accurate. There are successful hatch and release programs in use around the globe and glad to see Thailand getting in on it. Leatherbacks are critically endangered and need human help to survive. To be the most effective, the hatchlings are returned to the beaches...near where the nests were located...and released to find the shores on their own. They are not just farmed and dumped in the ocean. The following is from The Sea Turtle Conservancy:

 

To truly protect sea turtles around the world, many different countries and cultures must cooperate and share responsibility. International laws and agreements, research, and the work of dedicated organizations and individuals each must play a part. Long-term protection of sea turtles also means developing solutions that reduce reliance on management methods requiring direct human involvement — such as moving nests or raising hatchlings in captivity. If sea turtles can not survive and reproduce on their own, without help from humans, then they are doomed. Feeding and nesting grounds must be protected, and a public wildlife conservation ethic must be fostered that can withstand gaps in government regulations, pressure from private interests, and changes in the political climate.

 

 

[usacb500biker]

Can farang's hunt for nests?

[canopy]

While I agree other countries are doing it, I disagree that meddling with mother nature is a good thing. We simply do not know the long term consequences which could be harmful to an already fragile species in ways we don't yet understand. And are you really certain they aren't dumping the hatchlings out at sea? Other countries do this and I find it a very disturbing practice. The key to their survival is habitat--the eggs should be left exactly where they were laid by the mother. The turtles know how to survive on their own if we could only let them. What some well intentioned people are doing here could instead of helping the turtles tilt the balance and send them into extinction never to be seen again.

 

[Skeptic7]

1 hour ago, canopy said:

While I agree other countries are doing it, I disagree that meddling with mother nature is a good thing. We simply do not know the long term consequences which could be harmful to an already fragile species in ways we don't yet understand. And are you really certain they aren't dumping the hatchlings out at sea? Other countries do this and I find it a very disturbing practice. The key to their survival is habitat--the eggs should be left exactly where they were laid by the mother. The turtles know how to survive on their own if we could only let them. What some well intentioned people are doing here could instead of helping the turtles tilt the balance and send them into extinction never to be seen again.

 

In a perfect world, without humans, I agree. That is not reality. However human predation is real and rampant...on top of natural predators. Also unnatural man-made illumination that attract the hatchlings AWAY from the ocean and on to roads and into towns. It's also not realistic to find, monitor and guard every nest. Education, habitat protection and incentives are essential, but in the crucial near term...certain and immediate actions are necessary.

 

Humans meddle with Mother Nature everyday in every way. Sadly most of it bad, but also alot of beneficial ways. Science, medicine, agriculture, conservation with some amazing results including even saving some of our fellow earthlings from US causing their extinction. There are people much smarter than us...marine scientists...biologists...that do this for a living. Leatherbacks are in critical trouble, especially Asia, despite increased numbers in certain regions over the past few decades. I don't have the knowledge, nor the means, to save them...but do trust the experts in those fields to use and try the best info and methods possible. Plenty of human intervention examples which saved species from certain extinction. I'll trust the science to solve yet another human caused problem.